Hundreds of fighters from Iran-backed Iraqi militias crossed into Syria overnight to help the government fight rebels who seized Aleppo last week, Syrian and Iraqi sources said on Monday, and Tehran pledged to aid the Damascus government.
At least 300 fighters, primarily from the Badr and Nujabaa groups, crossed late on Sunday into Syria using a dirt road to avoid the official border crossing, two Iraqi security sources said, adding that they were there to defend a Shi’ite shrine.
A senior Syrian military source said the fighters had crossed in small groups to avoid airstrikes. “These are fresh reinforcements being sent to aid our comrades on the front lines in the north,” the source said.
The head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces said that no group under its umbrella had entered Syria and that it does not operate outside Iraq.
Iran’s constellation of allied regional militia groups has long been integral to the success of pro-government forces in subduing rebels who rose up against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011, and they have long maintained bases in Syria.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Monday that Syria’s military was capable of confronting the rebels but, referring to the regional militia groups Tehran backs, he added that “resistance groups will help and Iran will provide any support needed”.
Syrian and Russian warplanes intensified attacks on Monday in areas held by rebels in the northwest, residents and rescue workers said, including a strike on a displaced people’s camp that killed seven.
The lightning rebel assault last week dealt Assad his biggest blow in years, reigniting a conflict that had appeared frozen for years after civil war front lines stabilised in 2020.
Russia, though focused on its war in Ukraine since 2022, retains an air base in northern Syria. The main Iran-backed group, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, has been focused on its war with Israel since the Gaza conflict began last year.
The United States and the United Arab Emirates have discussed the possibility of trying to peel Syria away from Iran by offering to lift sanctions if he cuts off weapons routes to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, sources familiar with the matter said.
The sources said the discussions took place before the rebel advance on Aleppo last week.
Team Bharatshakti
(With inputs from Reuters)
